The Present Application relates generally to a board-to-board connector, and, more particularly, to a board-to-board connector having a strong removal force for releasing the engagement state and a stable engagement between a first and second connector.
Conventional board-to-board connectors have been used for electrically connecting a pair of parallel circuit boards. Such connectors are attached, by fitting, to respective opposing surfaces of the pair of circuit boards so that they are electrically connected to each other. Moreover, a technique has already been proposed in which reinforcing brackets attached to both ends of a board-to-board connector are configured to function as a locking member so that a state of being engaged with a counterpart connector is maintained. An example of a typical board-to-board connector is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-55306.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of reinforcing brackets of a conventional board-to-board connector. Referring to FIG. 8B, a first housing designated by reference numeral 811 is a housing of a first connector mounted in a non-illustrated, first circuit board, and referring to FIG. 8A, a second housing designated by reference numeral 911 is a housing of a second connector mounted in a non-illustrated, second circuit board. A plurality of non-illustrated first terminals is mounted in the first housing 811, and a plurality of non-illustrated second terminals is mounted in the second housing 911. When the first connector and the second connector are engaged together by fitting, corresponding ones of the first terminals and the second terminals are brought into contact with each other, so that the first circuit board and the second circuit board are electrically connected to each other.
Furthermore, first bracket accommodation-concave portions 826 having a groove shape are formed on both end portions in the longitudinal direction of the first housing 811, and first reinforcing brackets 851 are attached to the first housing 811 by being press-fitted into the first bracket accommodation-concave portions 826. The first reinforcing brackets 851 are an integral member formed by applying processing, e.g., punching and bending, to a metal plate. Each of the first reinforcing brackets 851 is provided with a body portion 852, fixing leg portions 856 which are extended downwardly from both ends of the body portion 852 to be soldered to the first circuit board, a pair of projection pieces 857 which are extended downwardly from the body portion 852, an elastic piece 853 which is formed between the projection pieces 857, and a locking projection 854 which projects outwardly from an inner surface of the elastic piece 853.
Similarly, second reinforcing brackets 951 are attached to the left and right sides of each of both ends in the longitudinal direction of the second housing 911. The second reinforcing brackets 951 are an integral member formed by applying processing, e.g., punching and bending, to a metal plate. Each of the second reinforcing brackets 951 is provided with a body portion 952, fixing leg portions 956 which are extended downwardly from both ends of the body portion 952 to be soldered to the second circuit board, and a locking projection 954 which projects outwardly from the body portion 952.
When the first connector and the second connector are engaged together by fitting, the locking projections 854 of the first reinforcing brackets 851 are engaged with the locking projections 954 of the second reinforcing brackets 951. In this way, the first connector and the second connector are locked and their engagement state is maintained. When the first connector and the second connector are engaged together by fitting, either one of the first housing 811 and the second housing 911 is engaged with the other housing in a reversed position (upside down) from the illustrated position.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional board-to-board connector, since the first reinforcing brackets 851 and/or the second reinforcing brackets 951 are deformed elastically, it is difficult to lock the first connector and the second connector together with a sufficiently strong force even when the locking projections 854 of the first reinforcing brackets 851 are engaged with the locking projections 954 of the second reinforcing brackets 951. That is to say, when a removal force which is a force that releases the engagement between the first connector and the second connector is applied to the first connector and/or the second connector, the body portion 852 of each of the first reinforcing brackets 851 and/or the body portion 952 of each of the second reinforcing brackets 951 is torsionally deformed. Thus, the engagement between the locking projections 854 of the first reinforcing brackets 851 and the locking projections 954 of the second reinforcing brackets 951 is easily released. Particularly, in the case of the first reinforcing brackets 851, since the span between the leg portions 856 formed at both ends of the body portion 852 is large, the amount of torsional deformation at the center of the body portion 852 becomes large. As a result, the amount of displacement of the locking projections 854 increases, so that the locking projections 854 are easily separated from the locking projections 954 of the second reinforcing brackets 951.